Canada’s federal income support system has largely protected incomes of Canadians aged 65 years and older. Ontario’s housing policies have been slower to protect their homes.
In 2024, 5.4% of Canadian seniors were reported to be living below the poverty line, which is less than half of the national rate of 11.0% (Statistics Canada, 2026). Federal policy deserves part of the credit. Restoring OAS and GIS eligibility to age 65 likely kept many seniors from falling into poverty.
But the 5.4% average poverty rate among Canadian seniors hides a sharp divide:
- Poverty rate: 3% for seniors in families; 11% for unattached seniors.
- Median after-tax income: $83,200 for seniors in families; $38,600 for unattached seniors (Statistics Canada, 2026).
A poverty rate tells us whether a senior's income clears a line. It doesn't tell us how long that income will keep clearing it. Pensions and benefits are largely fixed, while housing costs are not. A senior’s exposure depends on whether they own or rent.
Owners and Renters: Two Different Problems
In 2021, approximately 80% of senior-led households in Ontario owned their homes. The remaining 20% were renters. Roughly 43% of Ontario senior renters in 2021 spent more than the affordability benchmark on housing costs (Statistics Canada, 2022).
Each group faces a different risk:
1. Senior renters must absorb rising rents on relatively fixed incomes.
2. Senior homeowners may hold substantial equity while often having limited liquidity.
In Ontario, provincial rules make the first problem sharper.
Ontario’s Rent Rules Leave Senior Tenants Exposed
Uncapped Increases in Newer Units
Under s. 6.1 of Ontario’s Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, S.O. 2006, c. 17, s. 6.1 units first occupied after November 15, 2018, may be exempt from the rent-increase guidelines. For such an exempt unit, landlords may raise rent by any amount, provided they wait at least twelve months between increases and give at least 90 days’ written notice to the tenant.
For some rent-controlled units, the Landlord and Tenant Board may authorize an above-guideline increase in prescribed circumstances (ss. 6.1 & 126(1)). No such authorization is required to increase the rent for a guideline-exempt unit.
Two Other Rules That Compound the Problem
- Moving often means losing below-market rent. Ontario generally does not limit the rent a landlord can charge a new tenant for a vacant unit (s. 113). A long-term senior tenant who moves may lose years of accumulated rent protection.
- Retirement home service charges are not subject to the rent guidelines. In care homes, including retirement homes, the guideline applies only to the rent portion of the bill (s. 150). It does not cap charges for services such as nursing, food, and cleaning.
Targeted Reform: Limited but Practical
A blanket repeal of the post-2018 exemption to rent control would likely face opposition from those that view the exemption as an incentive for new rental construction. Although critics may dispute that rationale, the rental supply argument is a political reality. Targeted measures avoid some of the opposition, although their protections would be more limited.
- Disclosure. Requiring landlords to disclose a unit’s rent-control status would cost next to nothing. But disclosure offers limited protection when affordable alternatives remain scarce.
- Senior-specific protections require line-drawing. Which age threshold applies? What counts as a building “marketed to seniors”? They may also attract challenges under the Human Rights Code.
- A review mechanism for excessive increases depends on Landlord and Tenant Board capacity and on a workable definition of “excessive”.
Targeted reform is not merely the moderate option. It may be the most practical way to protect vulnerable tenants without reopening the broader fight over housing supply.
Rent rules address only the first problem. The second affects seniors who own their homes.
Homeowners: Asset-Rich, Cash-Poor
For some senior homeowners, the problem is liquidity rather than wealth. They may have low income, high equity, and rising carrying costs.
Reverse mortgages can allow homeowners aged 55+ to convert up to 55% of their home’s value into tax-free funds (Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, 2025). This money comes at a price. Interest compounds, equity falls, and the aging homeowner remains responsible for property taxes and insurance.
Alternatives include downsizing, HELOCs, and municipal tax deferrals. Ontario’s Senior Homeowners’ Property Tax Grant provides up to $500 a year, which is modest relief against many GTA property tax bills (Ministry of Finance, 2026).
The decision is not purely financial. A lawyer is well-positioned to assist older adults in weighing health, family circumstances, and life expectancy against these options. The risks are also legal. A client experiencing cognitive decline may be vulnerable to undue influence just as equity release begins to look attractive. Informal workarounds (such as adding an adult child to title to “make things easier”) can create entirely new problems.
Capacity Planning Can Prevent Avoidable Loss
While typically treated as an estate-planning topic, capacity planning can also be an affordability measure.
A continuing power of attorney under s. 7(1)-(2) Ontario’s Substitute Decisions Act, 1992 allows a grantor to authorize a trusted person to manage their property and financial affairs, even in the case of the grantor’s incapacity. That may include managing a sale, exploring financing, or paying for care. Absent adequate planning, families may need to pursue a guardianship application. This process is both time and cost-intensive, not to mention carrying costs and care bills which would continue to accumulate.
Powers of attorney carry their own risks. Lawyers should help clients select their substitute decision makers carefully, document capacity during planning and at signing, and consider appropriate safeguards, including accounting requirements.
What Lawyers and Policymakers Can Do
Drafting solicitors should ask older clients about housing costs as part of planning. Can they afford their home? What happens if their rent rises, or they need care? Who can act if they cannot? Put the capacity plan in place before a crisis, and treat equity release decisions as both legal and financial.
At the policy level, disclosure of rent-control exemptions, carefully designed protections for older tenants, and greater oversight of care-service charges are modest places to start.
The income floor may have held, but the housing floor has not.
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